How Muscles Heal

How Muscles Heal & Recover From Injury

Your muscles heal very differently than your bones. If you fracture a bone, as long as it is set and fixed in place properly, it will tend to heal so thoroughly that it will become stronger than it was before the fracture!

Bone tissue heals with calcium and other minerals, components of bone, in a process that creates a bond that is as strong or stronger than the original bone structure.

Lloyd, for example, breaks his leg and strains (pulls) several muscles in a skiing accident. The fractured bone is set, his leg is placed in a cast, and after the requisite amount of time, the cast is removed. It’s as good as new or even better—the bone anyway…

Your muscles however, do not actually heal with muscle tissue, but with “foreign” substances including collagen. The resulting scar tissue is weaker, less elastic, and highly prone to re-injury. Once a muscle is damaged, it can become the source of a great deal of pain.

Muscular Injuries Can Cause Severe Pain And Impairment, But Are Often Poorly Diagnosed And Managed

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons held a symposium in 1987, in which the attending experts examined the limitations of orthopedic medicine in treating soft tissue injuries.

Their conclusion was that not only do sprains and strains of the musculoskeletal (muscular) tissues cause considerable impairment and pain, but that these injuries are often poorly diagnosed and inadequately managed.¹

The standard medical response to muscular injuries is still mostly pain killers, anti-inflammatory drugs, and rest. The medication does little more than numb the pain and suppress the inflammation. The symptoms are effectively reduced, but these are the symptoms of the injury—not the injury itself.

Drugs can actually slow the healing process, and too much rest can be counterproductive as well, since muscle tissue needs a certain amount of movement as it heals, and will begin to atrophy (shrink) if not used.

Unfortunately for Lloyd, the casting and immobilization of his leg, which was crucial for the proper healing of the bone, was not exactly what his injured muscles needed. Now over a year has past, including several months of vigorous physical therapy sessions, and x-rays show that the bone has completely healed and there are no other complications. Lloyd however, notices that although his injured leg seems to be just as strong as it was before the accident, it is nowhere near as flexible, and he finds himself in pain whenever he runs or cycles, two activities he was able to perform painlessly before the skiing accident.

What Muscles Need In Order To Heal As Fully As Possible

In order for a car to go forward properly, all of its tires need to be aligned in the same direction (unless it’s turning). In a similar manner, for your muscles to function properly, all of their fibers need to be aligned in the same direction.

When you have a muscle that has been injured however, the initial repair process creates a “patch” of random scar tissue fibers.

Like a weak link in a chain, the random alignment of these new fibers becomes a “weak link” in your muscle, leaving it highly susceptible to re-injury

For an injured muscle to regain maximum strength and flexibility, the scar tissue needs to become aligned and integrated with the muscle fibers.

Oddly, our bodies do not have an efficient internal mechanism for accomplishing this. It’s somewhat haphazard, gradually improving over time but often not resolving completely, which can become quite a problem.

The problem is that the nervous system essentially “over reacts” to even microscopic areas of scar tissue, by keeping the muscle in a shortened, inflamed, and usually painful state.

The inflammation process is the first stage of healing and by keeping the muscle short, the nervous system is trying to protect it from further harm, these reactions however, can continue well past the point of being productive—in fact they can continue indefinitely.

Even a small muscular injury can lead to a chronic pain pattern which persists for months or even years, because the nervous “system stays on alert,” waiting for the scar tissue to heal completely and become aligned with the surrounding muscle tissue.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a good example. This potentially career-ending injury begins with the tiniest of muscular injuries from performing a simple repetitive task like using a computer keyboard and mouse.

By correcting (aligning and smoothing out) areas of scar tissue and other muscular irregularities, Soft Tissue Release breaks the muscular pain cycle at its root, accelerates the healing process, and restores muscular balance in a lasting way

What happens to Lloyd? Eventually his wife, tired of listening to his complaining, hears about a new therapy from a friend and encourages him to try it. Lloyd goes in for several sessions of Soft Tissue Release and shortly begins to regain the flexibility he had lost and is soon able to run, cycle, and even ski again without pain.

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21 Responses to How Muscles Heal

NixonMarch 15, 2011

Dear

Thanks alot for your teaching,
I have been in pain for the last 8 years now,i have gone to hospital,take pain killers,(x rays,MRI)and others but still no changes. am still in pain in my right hand shoulder, pain goes even far as neck.
kindly help me to over come this pain.

hey im 15 and i was doing a report on the healing process of muscles and i found your website very helpful in completing this assignment. from some of your sentences i was able to find more ideas and hints to search for more data. thank you very much for your help!

“Put to stress,” as you say, is the key – But not necessarily damaged. The old model / theory of strength training held that you build muscle by breaking it down first (Stressing it to the point of tearing or micro-tearing) – but that has been replaced with the concept of “Momentary Muscular Failure” or working the muscle to the point of exhaustion in order to trigger muscle growth.

If you think about it from a biological perspective, why would any man, animal or other muscle-driven creature “wait” until actual damage occurs before triggering muscle growth? Repairing damage is very time and resource-intensive. Better to recognize or anticipate when the muscle is not up to the task and make it stronger before it tears (if possible).

Pete, re-read the article and then point out your own mistake. When you work out, your muscles are being “put to stress”. When you pull a muscle or damage it, that’s when you have a problem. DAMAGE is different from EXERCISE. Get with the program.

I fell off my mountain bike. I have not ridden bikes for at least 30 years. I think I hurt my hamstring and the periformis muscles. How can I help it to heal quick? I have not stopped walking,but when I sit I have pain anf the area where the leg attaches to the bum is where it is swollen on my right side. What can I do?

Ive tried all possible medication formy muscle pain,but no relief for the last six months. However if I take VOVERON-SR I get temporary relief.
I am 56 years old,free from all diseases,no BP,no diabities, then how come.
Pls adv if VOVERON-SR is safe or harmful in the long run.
TKS.

I fell on a hard peice of metal on my right hamstring from about 5 foot i dammaged my leg quite badly but never went to get it looked at the brusing has nearly gone but my leg in the danmaged area is very knub and also very pain full when i put weight on the area . I can feel a dent in my leg as if the mucsle has seperated . Please let me know your best advise.
Regards Russ Bakewell

I fell off the back of a bucket truck. Landed on lower back and upper buttocks. Happened Nov. 25 and stopped working 12/30. Took percocets to get thru selling season. Stopped med and begin treatment. Only chiro. Pain is nothing I never felt before. Numbess, areas where chiro can’t touch. I haven’t slept a full nights sleep. No position is comfortable. Good news is nothing fractured or broken. L4-L5 herniated and slight bulge with narrowing of canal. Also, was told a long recovery due to muscle damage. Can you comment and best treatment options

Allen,
Thanks for the site. It is keeping me pushing and staying positive about an injury that i think I can recover fully from. Rotator cuff injury. Weakened back due to brace worn to recover from a compression break in a vertebrae. Back is recovered fully but the side complications of weak back muscles has lead to an mpinged sholder Funny how everything is related.
Re various comments- guys- book an appointment with him.
I would if I wasnt in Ireland!!
Graham

I’ve had rsi and tennis elbow for around 8 years now and the pain comes and goes, and i’m gathering my tendons as such havent been able to heal properly.I’m in Australia and have gone to doctors had injections, been on rest and recently just on pain killers. my right arm is the main problen….sometimes i can go weeks without a problem…then out of the blue i could say for example squeeze water from a cloth and it will feel like ive sprained my wrist, then the pain slowly worsen up on my ebow and generates back down my arm….is there any australian methods i could look into to find a cure/better prevention of pain? Thanks for the info above as well, huge help.

we used played a football in normal 24c temperature season …we like never used to stretch ..first light passes session then on field …..after 1 week of continuos playing i got a severe burning sensation in my leg ….i thought its as after so long playing so leg pain ….but it still hurts whenever some person hit on my leg …it lead to an injury …my entire leg has become injury prone ..what should i do ???

I totally destroyed my entire left shoulder crashing a scooter going 60 miles an hour down a dirt road. For 2 years I had such bad back pain that went all the way down the left side of my back even a cross my ribs and over my shoulder now I have to literally work out 5 times a week “3 days upper body” just to keep my muscles on my left side from degenerating. Like I stopped for 1 week and bam muscles on the left side of my back are completely shot. Not holding my arm in place correctly and cracking constantly.its so bad I’ve even contemplated begging my doctor to send me to a specialist for muscle replacement like cadaver muscles”

I had a severe laceration to my left arm which severed 3 arteries some tendon and my tricep muscle. it has been 3 weeks today and as it is healing it seems to not be healing properly and i still have severe pain, numbness, tingeling, and weakness in my entire upper left arm including areas that were not effected. i have yet to follow up with the surgeon because of tramsportation problems. what can i expect as time goes by? as of now the only relief i get is from strong narcotic pain meds but if anything that just masks the problem. any input would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, I found this to be a very interesting read and I was hoping you could offer me some advice. I have suffered from a lung disease and have damaged my muscles on my chest wall from severe coughing. I have been on strong pain killers for the last year and still have a lot of pain. Is there something I could do to help my muscles heal? The doctors don’t seem very helpful about it. Thanks in advance, Chloe